City Spending $500,000 on Week-Long Vancouver Housing Summit

October 25, 2016

The City of Vancouver is spending around half a million dollars on this week’s events that make up its re:address housing summit, according to a report in REW.ca’s sister newspaper Business in Vancouver.

The week of events, which is spearheaded by Mayor Gregor Robertson and is intended to find practical solutions to Vancouver’s affordability and supply issues, began Monday October 24 and will continue through Saturday October 29.

The main event is a full-day summit on Thursday October 27 that will comprise various presentations, a mayors’ round-table discussion and panel discussions, involving some 500 housing experts from across the globe, at the City’s invitation. Tickets to the conference are available for purchase here, although they have not been advertised and cost $370.

There are also several other "partner events" including two half-day summits on Friday October 28, as well as a delegates' welcome reception at the Museum of Anthropology Wednesday October 26, and another reception at the Fairmont Pacific Rim following the full-day summit on Thursday October 27.

There are also a number of public events that are free or low-cost, although they require pre-registration and some are already full.

City hall spokesman Jag Sandhu told BIV the events themselves are costing $236,100, although the city hopes to recover $262,000 through partner contributions and ticket sales.